Why checkout shows backup rates
The reasons Parcello returns no rates for a cart, how to tell when it happened, and how to fix each one.
Available on the Advanced plan and higher. Compare plans
Updated October 5, 2026
When Parcello can’t price a cart, it returns no rates rather than a wrong number. Shopify then shows the other rates in that shipping zone, or your backup rates when there are none. If there are neither, the customer sees no shipping options. This page lists the causes and fixes.
Set up a safety net first
Keep something in every zone that uses Parcello Live Rates: a flat rate, or Shopify’s backup rates for carrier-calculated shipping (set in Shopify under Settings > Shipping and delivery). Then a cart Parcello can’t price can still check out.
Causes
| Cause | What happens | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Live rates are disabled | No cart gets Parcello rates. | Click Enable on the Checkout Rates page. |
| Not added to the shipping zone | Parcello’s options never appear in that zone. | Add Parcello Live Rates to the zone in Shopify. |
| No carrier ticked | The Checkout Rates page shows No carrier is set to show rates at checkout. | Tick Surface at checkout on a carrier’s card and click Save checkout rates. |
| A product has no boxes | Parcello can’t pack it. One such product stops Parcello from quoting a parcel cart, even if every other product is set up. | Give the variant a box on the Products page, or use automatic packing (Operations plan). |
| A product’s location was deleted | Parcello can’t tell where the box ships from. | Pick a location for the product on the Products page. |
| A shipment got no rate | A carrier returned an error, didn’t answer in time, or refused the box (for example a UPS box over UPS size limits). Every shipment must be priced, so one failing shipment drops the whole cart. | Tick a second carrier so it can stand in, check box sizes and weights, and check the address on a test checkout. |
| None of the returned services is ticked | The carrier quoted, but only services you unticked. | Tick more services in the carrier’s checkout settings. |
| No shipping tier fits every shipment | In a cart that ships as several shipments, no tier can be served by all of them. | Pick a service for each carrier in every tier under Customer shipping tiers, and tick more carriers. |
| The freight carrier didn’t quote the freight | A cart uses one freight carrier, and the other one doesn’t stand in. Estes quotes the United States (Puerto Rico included), Canada and Mexico, and needs the destination city to quote Canada. FedEx Freight quotes the United States only, and needs the destination city and state. Shopify sometimes asks for rates before the customer has entered a city. A ticked service that one of your freight locations can’t offer is left out. | Tick Estes LTL Standard or both FedEx Freight service levels, add Backup service levels on the Estes card, and keep a backup rate for other countries. |
| A shipping rule shows no Parcello rates | On the Operations plan, a rule with Show no Parcello rates matched the cart. | Check your rules with Try a cart. |
| Your plan changed | Live rates are part of the Advanced plan and above. When the plan drops below Advanced or the subscription ends, Parcello stops quoting. | Choose a plan that includes live rates. See Plans and pricing. |
| Your Shopify plan doesn’t allow carrier-calculated shipping | Shopify refuses when you turn rates on. | Change your Shopify plan or add the feature in Shopify. |
Items that don’t need shipping (digital products, services) are ignored. A cart with only those gets no Parcello rates.
How to check what happened
On an order
Open the order in Parcello. The Shipping card lists the customer’s choice after “Customer checkout:”, with the option’s name and price.
- If the name is one of your Parcello services, tiers or freight service levels (or “Free Shipping”), the order was priced by Parcello. A promised date under it, when dates are shown, confirms it.
- If the name is a flat or backup rate from Shopify, Parcello returned nothing for that cart.
With Write shipment details to the order on, orders priced by Parcello also carry Checkout shipping and a Source entry naming Parcello’s live carrier rates in Shopify’s Additional details. Orders that used other rates don’t.
Before customers see it
- Place a test checkout in your store with the same products and address.
- On the Operations plan, use Try a cart on the Checkout Rates page. It rates the cart with your carriers, nothing is bought, and it shows the rates before and after your rules. When Parcello has no rates it shows “No rates:” followed by a reason:
| Reason | Meaning |
|---|---|
| no_carriers_enabled | No carrier ticked for checkout. |
| unconfigured_variant | A product has no boxes. |
| ship_from_missing | A product’s location is missing. |
| leg_unrateable | A shipment got no rate from any ticked carrier. |
| no_enabled_services | Only unticked services were returned. |
| no_common_tier | No shipping tier fits every shipment. |
| freight_unrateable | The cart’s freight carrier didn’t quote the freight. |
| no_shippable_items | Nothing in the cart needs shipping. |
Until you have turned on live rates or saved your rate settings once, Try a cart says “Turn checkout rates on first.”
Notes and limits
- Shopify can reuse rates for the same cart and address for about 15 minutes. After a fix, change the cart or address to test it.
- A carrier that is slow to answer is left out, and if it was the only one for a shipment, the cart falls back. A second ticked carrier lowers the chance of that.